Montclair State Hits .340, Tops New Jersey City Volleyball

JERSEY CITY—Montclair State University had three starters hit .500 or better and the Red Hawks collected a team percentage of .340 to claim a 3-0 (25-12, 25-21, 25-18) victory over New Jersey City University, in a New Jersey Athletic Conference match on Thursday night on Coach Charlie Brown Court at the John J. Moore Athletics and Fitness Center.

With the win, MSU remains unbeaten in the league, improving to 4-4 overall and 3-0 in the league. NJCU (3-9, 1-2 NJAC) drops its sixth straight match. MSU leads the all-time series, 18-8; the Gothic Knights had won six of the last seven meetings prior to the loss.
In defeat, NJCU sophomore outside hitter TABITHA JORDAN (Bayonne, NJ/Memorial) contributed a match-high 11 kills and added 10 digs for her second career double-double.

[smartads]

She equaled her career high with 11 kills in a match for the fourth time this season and distributed double-digits in digs for the third time in four matches. NJCU hit .162 as a team with 30 kills (30-13-105).

MSU had 41 kills and only nine errors in 94 attempts, led by senior outside hitter Karen Martin (Sicklerville, NJ/Washington Township) who had a team-high 10 kills and did not make an error (10-0-17) for a .588 percentage. She added 14 digs for a double-double.

In the opening set, MSU jumped out to a 6-0 lead and NJCU couldn’t draw closer than three points, before falling 25-12.

The second frame was tight throughout and MSU’s lead was twice cut to one late in the set, including 20-19, following a kill from Loo. But two errors by the Knights padded the Red Hawk lead, and Chesnakova sealed a 25-21 win with a kill.

In the third set, NJCU took a 10-6 lead and moved in front 14-11 on back-to-back winners by Jordan. But an 8-1 run by the Red Hawks gave the visitors a 19-15 margin.

Martin had a pair of kills during the streak. An ace by NJCU freshman middle BRITTANY EREZUMA (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) cut the MSU lead to 20-18, but the Hawks took control from there, with Burnham planting a key kill, and the Hawks capitalizing on several NJCU errors.

NJCU is back in action on Tuesday, September 29 at 7 p.m. when it visits Union, NJ for an NJAC match against Kean University. MSU next plays at Rutgers-Newark that evening at 5 p.m.